Took keen hold, held up in rear, some headway 3 out, no chance but kept on run-in, went third towards finish (jockey said his instructions were to sit handy, provided gelding settled, because trainer was concerned that should gelding get keen, it wouldn't get home; jockey explained that once tape dropped gelding was very keen off a muddling pace and was throwing its head around so he elected to sit further back than intended in order to get him to settle; he added that once relaxed, although gelding was generally jumping well on its first outing over obstacles, he was still novicey and needed holding together on the testing ground in order to get home; he added that, having entered home straight, he was looking for cover so had deliberately switched to the left having jumped third last but in doing so found himself short of room between horses and therefore switched back out to right to keep clear of trouble after second last; jockey maintained that he had achieved best possible placing pointing out that the diminishing distance between himself and that of second horse was due to latter being heavily eased in closing stages and not because he was finishing strongly; trainer confirmed instructions and was satisfied with ride, although ideally he would have preferred gelding to have been more ridden more prominently with favourite clearly in his sights throughout, which was noted)
In touch with leaders, went third 3 out, no extra from last, lost third towards finish (jockey said gelding made a respiratory noise; trainer explained that this may be due to testing conditions; vet had nothing to report) (op 33/1 tchd 22/1)
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